So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony —
'cause each time I feel it slippin away, it just makes me wanna cry:
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?

"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" on The New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz (1974)

I pick myself up off the ground to have you knock me back down
Again and again and when I ask you to explain
You say, you've got to be...
Cruel to be kind in the right measure
Cruel to be kind it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind means that I love youBaby, you got to be cruel, you got to be cruel to be kind.

Even if I was really prolific — which I'm not — I think I'd always put at least a couple of covers on my record. I think it's a sort of healthy thing to do. It shows that you're not totally self-obsessed.

I've always felt quite like an outsider. I don't really belong in the mainstream, and I quite like that.

"Nick Lowe" interview with Noel Murray at the A.V. Club (27 June 2007)

You know, the actual punk music, I didn't care for at all. I thought it was all rubbish, really. It was the attitude, the way that things were being shaken up, that excited me more. I still liked people who were good, you know? Who could actually play. Even though The Damned were a punk group, they played great. As did Elvis, and as did Ian. They were the ones who interested me. Not some of those daft punkers, especially the ones who had people who were actually pretty good musicians sort of pretending to play badly. That was just so stupid, and missed the point completely, I thought. So it was the people who were true to themselves, I think, that were the exciting ones.

"Nick Lowe" interview with Noel Murray at the A.V. Club (27 June 2007)